Sunny Outdoors

10 July 2010 - The mountain was swarmed with blood sucking leeches ! Almost everyone in the group got bitten, myself included. Some even had multiple bites. Legs and ankles were still bleeding at dinner time ...  These suckers came in different lengths and sizes -  there were small thin ones (that can easily squeeze into your shoes) and long fat ones that looked like an earthworm. We constantly had to look at our shoes to check.  Without fail,  every 5 minutes or so, there will be leeches making their way up for a fresh blood meal ! Even when we stopped, we had to scan the ground for leeches.  A lot of us got bitten when we stopped to rest for the first time.  You stop to catch your breath and have a drink of water and the next thing you know, you have leeches making their way up from the ground to your shoes and ankles. Yikes ! Although, I got bitten by one blood sucker who made it up to my ankle and had a good feast, there were at least 10+ leeches that attempted to do so ! I ha

Apr 24 2010 - Much has been written in blogs and websites that Gunung Panti (513m) is relatively easy for beginners.  But believe me, it was a fairly challenging trek.   The only other mountain that i have climbed is Gunung Lambak (510m) and Panti compared to Lambak is equally as tough, but with a gentler gradient that is not as steep. This sign marks the start of the trek ! We started our trek at a desolate looking path that led to the forested area of Gunung Panti. The varied terrain in Panti makes it challenging and interesting at the same time.  There were streams to cross ... ... and fallen trees to overcome.  In fact, there were lots of fallen trees along the way ! We had to go below, climb over or detour to get pass them.   You could see from the leaves on the branches that some of trees fell recently (likely due to the recent raining season) while others had been there for some time. This is probably a hazardous place to be when there is heavy rain.  The highlight